Residential building with non-breezeway entrances to side first floor units

ABSTRACT

A multi-story apartment building has breezeways and apartment units with breezeway entrances, but also includes a plurality of first floor apartment units with non-breezeway entrances. The first floor apartment units with non-breezeway entrances may be single-bedroom apartment units without compromising the ratio of rentable area to breezeway area in comparison to conventional multi-story apartment buildings with breezeways.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates generally to building structures and moreparticularly to a multi-level residential building that includes one ormore breezeways and one or more single-bedroom apartment units on thefirst floor with non-breezeway entrances.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Many conventional apartment buildings include a plurality ofapartment units with entrances in breezeways. A breezeway is a corridorthat runs through the building from front to rear, affording occupantseasy access to and from the front and rear of a building. In multi-levelbuildings with breezeways on the first floor, breezeways are typicallyprovided on the floors above the first floor to provide symmetry andmeet building code exit requirements.

[0003] While breezeways facilitate entering and exiting, they do so at acost. In particular, breezeways consume valuable area that can otherwiseserve as rental space. Additionally, breezeways, result in increasedtraffic and noise around apartment entrances, compromising privacy.

[0004] To help alleviate the lost area problem, conventional designstypically provide multi-bedroom apartment units, with breezewayentrances, along the sides of the first floor of the building, thusaugmenting the ratio of rentable area to breezeway area. Suchconventional designs typically do not provide single-bedroom units, withbreezeway entrances, along the sides of the first floor of the building,as doing so would yield a building with a smaller footprint and a lowerratio of rentable area to breezeway area.

[0005] Consequently, such conventional designs provide a limited number,if any, single-bedroom apartment units on the first floor where they areoften needed most.

[0006] Many elderly tenants on a limited income rent single-bedroomapartments, as they may not need and cannot afford multi-bedroomapartments. They often prefer or require first-floor apartments tofacilitate entering and exiting their apartment and the building. Suchtenants particularly desire first floor apartments in buildings withoutelevators, to avoid the stress and risk of climbing stairs.

[0007] To provide disabled tenants equal access to multi-bedroomapartment units in buildings without elevators, many buildings includeone or more such units on the first floor. While doing so helps achievea laudable goal, it further constrains the number of single-bedroomapartments that may be located on the first floor.

[0008] Conventional buildings that incorporate breezeways generally donot provide private non-breezeway entrances to apartment units. Instead,entrances are located along breezeways, which are heavily traveled byother tenants, delivery personnel, maintenance staff and visitors. Inaddition to creating noise, such traffic compromises the privacy oftenants. Some tenants, particularly elderly tenants, feel insecure orthreatened in the presence of unknown persons such as visitors anddelivery personnel passing through the breezeway.

[0009] Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a multi-levelapartment building that offers some apartment units with non-breezewayentrances. Additionally, it would be desirable to provide a multi-levelapartment building that accommodates a plurality of single-bedroomapartments on the first floor, some that have non-breezeway entrances,without compromising the ratio of rentable area to breezeway area.

SUMMARY

[0010] The present invention provides a multi-level apartment buildingthat has breezeways and apartment units with breezeway entrances, butalso includes some apartment units with non-breezeway entrances.Additionally, the apartment building includes a plurality ofsingle-bedroom apartments on the first floor, some of which may havenon-breezeway entrances, without compromising the ratio of rentable areato breezeway area.

[0011] An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-levelapartment building that has breezeways and apartment units withbreezeway entrances, but also includes some first floor apartment unitswith non-breezeway entrances.

[0012] Another object of the present invention is to provide amulti-level apartment building that has breezeways and apartment unitswith breezeway entrances, but also includes a plurality ofsingle-bedroom apartments on the first floor, some of which may havenon-breezeway entrances.

[0013] A further object of the present invention is to provide amulti-level apartment building that has breezeways and apartment unitswith breezeway entrances, but also includes a plurality ofsingle-bedroom apartments on the first floor, some of which may havenon-breezeway entrances, without compromising the ratio of rentable areato breezeway area.

DRAWING

[0014] These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdescription, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, where:

[0015]FIG. 1 conceptually shows a floor plan for a first floor of anapartment building in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0016]FIG. 2 conceptually shows a floor plan for a first floor of anapartment building in accordance with an alternative embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0017]FIG. 3 conceptually shows a floor plan for a second floor of anapartment building in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

[0018]FIG. 4 conceptually shows a floor plan for a third floor of anapartment building in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Each apartment unit shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 includes a numberin the lower right-hand corner that represents the number of bedroomsintended to be included in the unit. In general, the number of bedroomsis a function of the size of the unit in accordance with conventionalapartment unit designs. Though FIGS. 1 through 4 depict generallyrectangular units in three distinct sizes, units of various shapes andsizes may be used without departing from the scope of the presentinvention. Thus, apartment buildings that include extremely spaciousunits, and/or relatively small units, and/or studios and/or units withmore than three bedrooms, may come within the scope of the presentinvention.

[0020] For illustrative purposes, the present invention is referred toas an apartment building herein and the residential units are referredto as apartment units. However, it is understood that the presentinvention may apply to other residential buildings such as condominiums,co-operatives and extended stay hotels, and such other implementationscome within the scope of the present invention.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, a floor plan for a first floor of anapartment building in accordance with an exemplary implementation of thepresent invention is shown. A plurality of apartment units 105 through160 arranged in two rows are also shown, with each unit having anentrance, shown as 105 e through 160 e. A front row includes evennumbered units 110 through 160. A rear row includes odd numbered units105 through 155.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 1, the floor plan includes two breezeways 185and 195; though one, three or more breezeways may be used. Additionally,while the floor plan shows four apartment units having entrances fromeach breezeway (115, 120, 125 and 130 from breezeway 185; and 135, 140,145 and 150 from breezeway 195), a different number (preferably an evennumber) of apartment units may have entrances from each breezeway. Insuch case, the floor plan may include more than two rows of apartmentunits. “Outer-most” apartment units have at least one side along theleft side or right side of the building. The outer-most apartment units105, 110, 155 and 160 on the first floor have non-breezeway entrances105 e, 110 e, 155 e and 160 e. This is an advantage of the presentinvention and a departure from conventional apartment buildings.Conventional buildings with breezeways typically do not include unitswithout breezeway entrances. Rather, the outer-most units ofconventional buildings typically have breezeway entrances. Whilenon-breezeway entrances (105 e, 110 e, 155 e and 160 e) are shown inFIG. 1 along the left and right sides of the building, they may insteadbe located along the front and rear sides of the building.

[0023] The outer-most apartment units 105, 110, 155 and 160 on the firstfloor are preferably single-bedroom units. This is another advantage ofthe present invention and a further departure from conventionalapartment buildings with breezeways, which typically have multi-bedroomouter-most apartment units to provide a desired building footprint andachieve a desired ratio of rentable area to breezeway area. In theexemplary implementation of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, theouter-most units in combination with the adjacent units having breezewayentrances (105 and 115, 110 and 120, 155 and 145, 160 and 150) as shownin FIG. 1, may provide as much or greater rentable space than theouter-most multi-bedroom units of conventional buildings. The adjacentunits may be single or multi-bedroom apartment units.

[0024] In an alternative implementation of the present invention some orall of the outermost units may have multiple bedrooms. For example,referring to FIG. 2, outermost units in the rear row (205 and 255) maybe two-bedroom apartment units. Likewise, units 125 through 140 on thefirst floor may be single or multi-bedroom units.

[0025] The center apartment units 125 through 140 may include single ormulti-bedroom apartments, such as the group of single-bedroom unitsshown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Typically, center apartment units are stacked,with the center units on an upper floor being the same size as andpositioned directly above the center units on the floor directly belowit.

[0026] Another advantage of the present invention is the ability toaccommodate access by disabled persons. Many apartment buildings areelevated, with steps leading to the first floor breezeways. It may befar less aesthetically pleasing and more expensive to install a ramp tofacilitate access to a breezeway than it may be to install a ramp tofacilitate access to an outer-most unit having a non-breezeway entrance.

[0027] In a preferred implementation of the present invention, thebuilding includes a plurality of floors. Stairways may be included, suchas 165, 170, 175 and 180 in FIGS. 1 and 2, to provide access to and froma second floor, as depicted in FIG. 3. Additional stairways may beincluded, such as 365, 370, 375 and 380 in FIG. 3, to provide access toand from a third floor, as depicted in FIG. 4. Buildings having morethan 3 floors are often subject to more rigorous building coderequirements, resulting in higher construction costs. Additionally, asthe number of apartment units increase with additional floors, so doesthe required number of parking spaces. For a suburban apartment buildingwith a parking lot for tenants, a three-level building havingapproximately 24 to 36 units is preferred.

[0028] Upper floors include apartment units having breezeway entrances.Breezeways of each upper floor are preferably located directly abovebreezeways of the floor below it to facilitate stairway access. Thefootprint for each upper floor is preferably approximately the same orsmaller than the footprint of the floor below it to facilitateconstruction and yield an aesthetically pleasing building.

[0029] Upper floor apartment units of various sizes and layouts may belocated directly above units of the floor below. In general, twosingle-bedroom apartments occupy approximately the same area as athree-bedroom apartment, and more area than a two bedroom apartment.Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, three-bedroom units 305, 310, 345 and 350 canbe located on a second floor above first floor single-bedroom units 105and 115, 110 and 120, 155 and 145, and 160 and 150. Alternatively,two-bedroom units can be located on the second floor in lieu of thethree-bedroom units 305, 310, 345 and 350, yielding a smaller footprintand/or allowing space for other features, such as balconies.

[0030] Two-bedroom units 415, 420, 445 and 450 may be located on a thirdfloor above the outer-most units 315, 320, 345 and 350 of the secondfloor. Four single-bedroom units may be located on the third floor abovethe center single-bedroom units 325, 330, 335 and 340 of the secondfloor. In an alternative embodiment, the center units on each floor maybe multi-bedroom units.

[0031] A building in accordance with the preferred implementation of thepresent invention may be constructed using conventional buildingmaterials and construction methods known in the art.

[0032] The detailed description of a particular preferred embodiment,set forth above to enable one to implement the invention, is notintended to limit the enumerated claims, but to serve as a particularexample thereof. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that theycan readily use the concepts and specific embodiments andimplementations disclosed as bases for modifying or designing otherbuildings for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention.Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalentbuildings do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention inits broadest form.

We claim:
 1. A multi-level residential building including: a. abreezeway, b. a first floor and a second floor, c. a plurality ofresidential units, including a plurality of units having breezewayentrances and at least two outer-most units on the first floor, at leastone of said outer-most units on the first floor having a non-breezewayentrance.
 2. The multi-level residential building according to claim 1,wherein the at least one of said outer-most units on the first floorhaving a non-breezeway entrance is a single bedroom unit.
 3. Themulti-level residential building according to claim 2, said buildingfurther including a plurality of multi-bedroom residential units on thesecond floor located above the outer-most units on the first floor.
 4. Amulti-level residential building including: a. two breezeways, b. afirst floor and a second floor, c. a plurality of residential units,including a plurality of units having breezeway entrances and at leasttwo outer-most units on the first floor, said outer-most units on thefirst floor having non-breezeway entrances.
 5. The multi-levelresidential building according to claim 4, wherein at least one of saidouter-most units on the first floor having non-breezeway entrances is asingle bedroom unit.
 6. The multi-level residential building accordingto claim 5, said building further including a plurality of multi-bedroomresidential units on the second floor located above the outer-most unitson the first floor.
 7. A multi-level residential building including: a.two breezeways, b. a first floor and a second floor, c. a plurality ofresidential units, including a plurality of units having breezewayentrances and four outer-most units on the first floor, said fourouter-most units on the first floor having non-breezeway entrances. 8.The multi-level residential building according to claim 7, wherein thefour outer-most units on the first floor having non-breezeway entrancesare single bedroom units.
 9. The multi-level residential buildingaccording to claim 8, said building further including a plurality ofmulti-bedroom residential units on the second floor located above theouter-most units on the first floor.